Magewell’s Control Hub

Magewell has announced the immediate general availability of Control Hub, the company’s second-generation centralised device and stream management software. Magewell also shared details of multiple Control Hub licensing tiers designed to match varying customer and project requirements.

The successor to the established Magewell Cloud platform, Control Hub provides centralised configuration and control of multiple Magewell streaming and IP conversion solutions. Administrators, IT staff and systems integrators can easily manage encoders and decoders across multiple locations through an intuitive, browser-based interface. An HTTP-based API is also available for third-party integration.

The Control Hub software can be deployed on-premises or in the cloud and supports Magewell hardware products including Ultra Stream and Ultra Encode live media encoders; Pro Convert NDI encoders and decoders; the Pro Convert Audio DX IP audio converter; and the USB Fusion capture and mixing device. Users can remotely configure device parameters, monitor device status, trigger operational functions – such as starting or stopping encoding – and perform batch firmware upgrades across multiple units of the same model.

Control Hub can also convert streams between multiple protocols with an exceptionally flexible stream routing architecture. Users can easily define ‘channels’ that map an input to one or more output protocols and destinations. Control Hub converts between RTMP, SRT (in caller or listener mode), RTSP and transport streams (delivered over UDP or RTP).

Three tiers of the full Control Hub software are available for purchase as perpetual licenses to meet customers’ specific needs for the number of managed devices, stream conversion channels and stream conversion outputs. Control Hub Basic offers management of up to 20 Magewell hardware devices and supports up to 5 stream conversion channels comprising a total of up to 20 outputs. For larger-scale deployments, Control Hub Plus supports up to 50 Magewell devices, 25 streaming channels and up to 50 total converted output streams, while Control Hub Pro supports 150 devices, 50 channels and 150 total conversion outputs.

A Lite version is also available for customers or integrators requiring device management (up to 20 devices per license) but who do not need stream conversion. Multiple Control Hub Lite licenses can be combined to manage a greater number of devices in increments of 20. A 14-day trial version of Control Hub is also available for evaluation purposes.

Existing customers who purchased Magewell Cloud MC 50 or Magewell Cloud MC 150 licenses can redeem a code for a free upgrade to Control Hub Plus or Control Hub Pro, respectively.

The Control Hub software is delivered as a Docker container and can be deployed on public cloud infrastructure or the customers’ own server. Linux is the recommended operating system for Control Hub installations, but the software is also compatible with Windows and MacOS.

“Control Hub builds on the powerful management capabilities of our earlier Magewell Cloud software with a revamped device management interface and expanded stream conversion capabilities that offer users and integrators even greater control of their workflows,” said James Liu, VP of Engineering at Magewell. “The response to our early previews of Control Hub was tremendous, and we’re excited to release it to our customers.”

Magewell will showcase Control Hub as part of IP workflow and streaming demonstrations in stand 7.A44 at the upcoming IBC 2023 exhibition, taking place September 15 to 18 in Amsterdam.